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Title:Economic changes to the value of water environment : draft final reportAuthor: National Rivers AuthorityDocument Type: MonographAbstract:This report, therefore, approaches economic analysis using the twin criteria of does it work and does it help?It also identifies those areas of policy relating to the water environment where economic analysis can help by providing substantive insights.Whilst many economists have regarded the economics of the environment as a trivial question, merely requiring the application of standard economic tools, it will be argued here that the application of the two above criteria reveal some major outstanding theoretical and methodological problems for economics. Thus, whilst the standard tools of economics can and do provide both valid and useful insights into many aspects of environmental policy, there are, nevertheless, areas where this is not yet possible. Consequently, this report also identifies those contexts where we believe that economic analysis is not yet useful, or valid, and the reasons why we believe that this type of analysis cannot yet satisfy the twin criteria in these instances. Since our discussion in these areas is critical of conventional economic theory, we outline the problems we perceive with conventional theory when used in these areas.Publisher: National Rivers AuthorityPublication Date: 1991Publication Place: BristolSubject Keywords:Economic analysis; Environmental planning; Cost benefit analysis; Aquatic environmentExtent: 84Permalink:http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:3890Total file downloads: 0